Ichise Chanyu

Who is Ichise Chanyu?

Ichise Chanyu, whose full title is unknown, was a Chanyu of the Xiongnu, the successor to Gunchen Chanyu. Ichise Chanyu reigned during the reign of the Han emperor Wudi Liu Che 武帝 劉徹, after Wudi broke the heqin 和親 peace and kinship treaty with the Huns.

Ichise Chanyu reigned during one of the most aggressive periods in the Chinese history, and one of the many troubled periods in the Hunnic history. To come to the throne, the Eastern Luli-Prince Ichise, a younger brother of Shanuy Gunchen, had to stage a coup against the next in line to the throne, the Eastern Jükü-Prince Yui bi. Yui bi faced Ichise in a battle, was defeated, and fled and submitted to China, where the Chinese Court of Emperor Wu-Di gave him a princely title She-an-heu; in few months after that Yui bi died. A few years before Ichise Chanyu's enthronement, in 133 BC, the Chinese captured Ordos, which the Huns held for the previous 80 years from the time of the Shanuy Touman, after a decade-long occupation by the Zhao state. The loss was a heavy blow for the Huns, and the war flared up. Just as Ichise Shanuy ascended the throne, in the summer the Huns with several tens of thousands cavalry raided Dai-gun, killed regional governor Gun Ji, and captured up to 1,000 people; in the autumn the Huns also raided Yai-myn, and also captured up to 1,000 people.